Feathers and Bones: To catch a songstress
by wingkia
Summary: This is a fallow-up to Feathers and Bones, due to popular demand, so lots of OC's it's placed about 16 years after Feathers and Bones, so people are going to be older.
1. Chapter 1

Feathers and Bones,

To catch a songstress.

Part one: Ruffled Feathers

A/N:

Well here we are all again, the start of a new story, a new plot, and well a pile of new characters. I'll do my best to keep my production values from the first story, but it should be an interesting story, I hope at least.

Right, on with the show!

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July 27, C.E. 79

Location: U.N.S. Seraphim, Sol system.

"I know it's a lot to ask of you, but please? The Vanguard fleet will likely see battle." asked a woman with milk chocolate brown hair, well she talked to a woman with pink hair.

The woman with pink hair took the hand of the small girl with hair that was once red, now blond, with red at the tips, and red highlights, "Of course we will, you don't need to worry at all."

The woman with the brown hair, watched the other two walk away, hand in hand, and she could not help but hug her sides, watching them go, as tears started to make their way down her face.

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Mid July, C.E. 90

Location: Orb

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fixing her makeup; she had her blondish-red hair up in a pony tail, a bath towel around her body, she was broadly considered attractive at school, till everyone found out who here parents are, it was the same with elementary, junior high, and now even high school. In Orb, there was no official problem with people from the U.N.S., but in reality, if you are a kid from a family that has a U.N.S. officer or enlisted men, then you got shunned by your peers, all she could count on, was her 'cousin'. She knew they were not related, but they had grown up together.

"Mina, hurry up, I got to go to the bathroom!" came the call from outside the door, she smiled and rolled her eyes, grabbing her makeup bag, and steeping outside to let him in.

As soon as the door opened, she was pushed aside, and then out the door, she walked to her bedroom, to change, before heading down stairs.

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Once down stairs, Mina Kross, sat at the kitchen table, looking at her 'aunt' as she fixed breakfast, humming to herself, "Mina are you ready for the talent show tonight?" asked the woman with pink hair.

Mina almost choked on her breakfast, as her aunt asked that, "What?!"

The woman with pink hair turned to look at the girl that was on her way to becoming a woman, she looked very much like her mother, and she felt a pang of envy, though this girl was much younger then herself, the girl had a much better body, at least in her mind, things tend to get out of place after a baby, and never are the same again, no matter how hard you work at it, still she gave the girl a soft warm smile, "Mina, to sing in front of people, has little to do with skill, it's to do with self confidence. If you can show that you are confident, then the audience will listen." She took a moment to stir the batter, "I have heard you practice, and you do have a beautiful voice, so believe in yourself, and you will do fine."

Mina took a sip of her juice well thinking on her aunt's words.

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The pink haired woman leaned against her husband, as he embraced her from behind, "She has so little self confidence, do you think that Alexander and Murrue not being able to keep her with them, has had that much of an impact on her?" she asked.

The brown haired man squeezed her a little tighter, before he responded, "Possibly, it's just strange to see someone that comes from people that are so confidante, and see that she can be shaken so easily."

She smiled, before turning to face him, "Did you do as I asked you too, the other day?"

"Yes, I dropped off the papers, but I don't see why entering her into 'Miss Orb 90 was so important." He said showing some of his confusion.

"For a young woman, confidence is a tricky thing. She has all that she could possibly need to draw confidence from, yet still lacks it. So I figured entering her in that might help boost her self-esteem, thus making her feel better about herself. Besides, I was in those pageants when I was her age, and I won a few of them." She said, sticking her tongue out, "besides, I already know she's not going to take part in the talent show at her school, but I am enjoying bugging her about it though."

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"Hey Mina, you got a letter here, on the table!" called her cousin.

Mina entered the room, to see her 'cousin' Rin, he looked much like his father, and only a year younger then herself, he was so popular at school, part of it ate at her, but she took something with her, in the fact that he was one of the few people that didn't shun her at school, just because of who her parents are. "What do you mean I've got a letter? I never get mail." She said, as she came over to grab the letter.

As she opened it, and started to read it, her eyes went wide in shock.

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"Bring us around; I want the port side gun batteries to hammer that fleet! Knock those ships out of my sky!" Called Captain Alexander Kross, fully sixteen years had passed for him; he was in his 40's now, a few strands of gray starting to show in his copper blond hair, as well as few more wrinkles.

"Captain, engine two and four are damaged, main attitude thrusters are operating at 40 percent..." came the voice of his wife, Murrue Kross, she too had become older over the years, but time had been much kinder to her.

"If we don't bring the ship around, we can't hit their flag ship, with our main gun. If we can't do that, we're finished! So I don't care about what's wrong, just do it." He called back, as alarms were going off; the bridge lighting had been put on to emergency stand-by.

The Seraphim rocked as it took another blast of plasma to its hull, the craft swarming it were small, giving the defensive batteries are hard time, it's fighter complement engaged or destroyed. The massive 1600 meter long brute came around, slowly, as it spun on its target, the forward third of the ship opened, left to right, as orangey-red energy sparked and jumped across the massive gap that was created.

In the blink of an eye, the beam of light shot out, like a lance, towards the twisted green hulk, that was in control of the swarming horde, around the Seraphim, the beam enveloped its target, and in a heartbeat, the swarm halted its attacks, and slowly started to self-destruct.

Alexander sank back into his command chair, and sighed, before he told the navigator to return them to jump them back to the rest of the fleet, to give his report, as well as seeking a safe harbour to make repairs.

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"Admiral, the Seraphim, is on approach..." said the male officer, attending to the RADAR display.

Jefferson Halsey, moved to the window on the bridge of Battle 08, his bones creaked under the movement, _This is going to be my last year as the fleet commander, I'm getting too old now..._ were his thoughts, as he saw the Seraphim coming into view.

The Ship was listing to starboard pretty badly, fully 25 degrees over, fires still showing on the hull, as well as several massive gashes along the hull, rather than the blue and white the hull should be, it was more black, then colour, the ship had taken a real beating.

"Open communications with them." He spoke softly.

It took a moment, and the connection was filled with static, "Captain, are you alright?"

"Ser... ing... hev... ama... need, rep..." was all that came back.

"Communications, when they are close enough, send them this message in semaphore code; Jump to Earth. Dock at Space Station Liberty. Report back, when repairs completed. End message." He said to the woman at the communications station.

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After Alexander saw the lights, and had the message received, he spoke, "Alright, next stop Earth, to dock with Space Station Liberty, after that, looks like we've got some time off, for bad behaviour... And could someone please see about turning off those alarms, and fix the lights?"

He watched as the light of a fold started to envelop his ship again, as it was sucked through space and time again.

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Her mind raced, this was all some kind of joke, it had to be, she kept telling herself, a few weeks had passed since that letter had arrived, and now she stood, her dress was long, and changed colours from blue to purple, on her head was a crown of blue and purple flowers, _I can't believe I'm doing this..._ were her thoughts as she remembered her 'aunt' taking her shopping for an outfit to go along with the song she was going to sing, for the talent portion of the 'Miss Orb 90' pageant, she found it hard to believe that she had made it, through the selection process, through the interviews, and was actually going to be on stage.

"Next we have Miss Mina Kross, whom is going to sing a song for us all..." that was her queue, to start walking onto the stage, she took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, she was so nervous.

"Miss Kross, is 16 years old, the daughter of Captain Alexander Kross, of the U.N.S. navy, commanding officer of the Battle Ship BB 163 Seraphim." The announce continued, Mina felt even more self conscious as she saw her measurements on the massive screens around the outdoor hall, she had almost reached the microphone, when the announcer finished with, "The ship that recently returned to the Earth sphere from the Vanguard Fleet."

Her pulse started to beat very quickly, she could feel her palms sweaty, and the butterflies in her stomach, the lights around her, went out, for a split second she was alone, in the dark, then it hit her, that white spotlight, then the music started, she had been told that this was the first song that her parents had danced too, Sheryl Nome's 'Diamond Crevasse'.

_When I was still in love with god,_

_I never expected such a farewell would come._

_If I had known I could never feel your touch again,_

_I would've hoped to be embraced just one last time._

_It's long, long good-bye..._

_Goodbye, goodbye, so many times,_

_I repeated the word to myself,_

_Waving my hands. It's only graceful, right?_

_Now, I long to be stronger._

_I met you, the stars sparkled, and I was born._

_I love you, therefore I am._

_What good is waiting for a hopeless miracle?_

_Through my tear-filled vision, the planet's twinkle is gone..._

_I can't ever forget your warmth,_

_Your kindness, and your all-encompassing hands._

_It's long, long good-bye_

_Goodbye, goodbye, my beloved._

_I came this far because you were here._

_I wasn't alone, was I?_

_Now, I long for answers._

_Catch a falling star that looks ablaze and light a fire,_

_I still want to love, and I still want to be loved._

_What good is a lone freezing body to this world?_

_I long for you to finally drop your act..._

_What's wrong? Why can't I stop my tears from overflowing?_

_I met you, the stars sparkled, and I was born._

_I love you, therefore I am._

_What good is waiting for a hopeless miracle?_

_Through my tear-filled vision, the planet's twinkle is gone..._

_If we are reincarnated and can meet again someday,_

_Please find me and hold me tight,_

_And make sure you don't let go again._

_I wish the planet would whisper to me that I'm not alone..._

As the song faded to an end, the lights came down, and she crumpled to the stage, but she could hear the applause, the cheering, and started to cry, well smiling, they liked her song, well her cover of it, anyways.

When the lights came on, she was on her feet again, and the announcer was beside her, and he said loudly, "Can we have another round of applause for Miss Kross here."

As the clapped and whistled she left the stage with a blush to her cheeks.

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Alexander and Murrue were seated beside Lacus, Kira, and their son Rin, the five of them were speechless, Lacus though had a smile on her face, and she leaned over to Alexander and said, "I knew she had it in her. She just might have what it takes to become a singer... That is, if you and Murrue would be willing to let her try that path."

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Well, I do hope, that this was enough of a taste of what I'm planning for a second story. Just might take me a while to get everything written.

Do feel free to leave any comments, and I shall do my best to address them.

Thank you for reading this far.


	2. Chapter 2

Broken Wings

A/N:

At this moment in time, I've got no plans of anyone from Frontiers to make a gust appearance, but who's to say that may change as the story evolves.

Right, on with the show!

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She sat in the line up, of the final five girls, her swimsuit hugging all of her curves, she looked to her left, to get a better look at some of her competition, and noted to herself, that she had a larger bust than this girl to her left, but her skin look so good, with such a dark tan to it. Her eyes drifted to her right, the woman beside her, looked much prettier than she did, as she though anyways.

She held her breath and tried to avoid squirming under the lights, she felt so self-conscious sitting on this chair, on top of this stage, being eyed up, like some piece of meat. On the screens it was showing some of the highlights of the night, mostly the part that each of the five girls had done the strongest in, she shifted in her seat a little.

It took several minutes before the results of the audience polls were finally tallied, and then came the announcer again, "We have it, the final two are, Miss Mina Kross, and Miss Cathay Simons."

The lights on the stage went out again, the three girls that didn't make the cut were lowered under the stage, leaving the final two, Cathay Simons was the girl sitting to the right of Mina, now more so then before Mina felt even more nervous, she wondered if she could make it through this, a small part of her wanted to win, to prove to all those girls at school, that she was worth something.

When the lights came up, it was just the two of them, and the announcer, he took each of their hands, to help them to stand, as the cameras zoomed and moved around the two girls, the final judgment would come down to the judges present.

For Mina, it felt like an eternity, time was going by so slowly, she looked to the girl beside her, and she looked so confident, so sure of herself, _I wonder if it's all an act? Is she as nervous as me? _She asked herself.

"And Miss Orb 90 is..." the announcer said, pausing in mid-speech, to build suspense. Mina felt so sick to her stomach, she didn't know how much more of this she could take, "Miss..." he did it again, paused, and it was driving her insane, "Cathay Simons!"

The other girl hugged her, tears coming down her face, what had just happened, made Mina feel numb, like it wasn't real, she had come so close, she could almost touch it, victory, being able to prove to everyone, that she wasn't someone to be ignored, or pushed aside, all she wanted to do now, was cry.

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It was a quite ride home; she was in a car with her aunt and uncle, as well as her cousin, her head was leaning against the window, she was trying to hard not to cry, she'd come so close. Not that being the runner up was a complete loss, but she had wanted to win, to prove that she was worth something, that maybe she could do something better then someone else.

Rin looked at her, he could see the tears on the edges of her amber eyes, and he reached out, to squeeze her hand. He wanted to tell her that her parents had been in the audience, but he had been told not too, that it was going to be a surprise for her, when they had gotten home.

That was all it took, was the touch of his hand, the first tear started to make its way down her cheeks, her voice was shaky, as she spoke, "I came so close... My parents were even in system, and they didn't even come... Am I that worthless to them, was that why they sent me away?"

Lacus looked at Kira; he met her eyes briefly, before they returned to the road, in that instant, he'd given her his okay, with letting out the surprise, "Mina, you are not worthless, they asked myself and Kira to look after you, because they knew they were going to see battle. They wanted you to be safe, they wanted you to be around people that would care for you, like you are their own child, and it broke your mother's heart to send you away... But you should know, they were there tonight, both of them. They were both so proud of you, to see you up on stage, you looked like you belonged up there, you father even said, and that you looked and sounded just like Sheryl Nome. He'd seen her in concert, and that you had done the song perfectly. And most importantly, they wanted you to have every option in the world, something you wouldn't have had, if you had been in the Vanguard Fleet."

She had heard her aunt, but part of her doubted her aunt's words, she'd get a letter or a gift twice a year from her parents, but not much else, _if they love me so much, then why did they really push me away. You can say that they did it for all the right reasons, but what you say, and what really happened can be two different things._

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As they pulled into the drive way, and were getting out, Mina noticed another vehicle come to a stop, across the street; it was obviously a military car of some kind, she noticed as two people in white uniforms got out, one was a man, the other a woman, she shrugged them off, as she entered the house, and ran upstairs to cry into her pillow.

Down stairs, Alexander placed his cap on the living room table, and pulled off his gloves, well leaning back, against a wall, "She must be heart broken... I think they should've picked her, that other girl really wasn't that impressive, not to mention she was as dumb as a post."

Kira, did his best not to laugh, as he saw the look on his friend's face, even after sixteen years, he was still a little childish when it came to things he though should have gone, "Captain Kross," he began, before Alexander said "Kid, how many times do I have to tell you this, 'Alex' is fine. You've been doing me a huge favour by taking care of Mina."

"Alex, she seems very fragile, she doesn't have any self confidence. She always seems to act as if she has to prove her worth to everyone around her, that's when she's actually trying to be seen, most of the time; she's trying to blend into the background." Kira said, after having to restart his little speech.

"And that is our fault. I wanted to keep her with us, so badly, I wanted to watch her grow up, be there for every scraped knee, or hurt feeling, as well as all the good times... But I wanted her to have a better life then I did. Not that my parents didn't do their best, but had I had the option, I don't think I would've joined the U.N.S. fleet." Said Alexander, pushing himself off of the wall, to take a seat beside Murrue.

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Up in Mina's room, she lay with her back to the door, curled up on the bed, hugging her pillow tightly, her voice was sore from all the crying, but the tears were still coming, out the window, she could see the beach, and the stars reflecting off the water.

She heard the door open and close, as well as the soft slow walk across the room, even felt it, when the person sat on the other side of the bed, the hand was soft on her exposed left shoulder, and warm, "You did really well tonight, I was impressed." He said.

The tears still made their way down her cheeks, but she smiled a little, she liked being prised, craved it to some degree, "Thanks Rin, I appreciate you saying that."

"And I think you looked really pretty in the dress too. But I think you should dry your eyes, and come down stairs." He patted her shoulder again, before leaving the room.

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Kira, Lacus, and Rin, stood in the kitchen, to try and give some privacy to the three people in the living room, yet close enough to listen in.

"Why did you send me away." Asked Mina, her voice was still cracked, her words choked.

"We wanted you to have a chance to do anything." That was the voice of her mother.

"I fought, saw people die long before they should have, and even killed a few of them myself. So that you could have a chance to be anything you could ever want to be. You wouldn't have had that option with the fleet. And I'll be damned if I was going to put my _**only**_ daughter in harm's way, knowing that we'd likely see combat." That had been Alexander, his words harsh and pointed, "I wish I could have been around for everything important in your life so far, but I didn't have a choice, I am an officer of the U.N.S., A captain of a battle ship, and until a little while ago, I was on the frontlines fighting in a war, that the people here, have no idea is even going on. And it's a war for your very right to exist, so sorry I'm not a perfect father, sure wish I could be, but I'd like to think that I'm doing a fine job trying to make sure that your future is a happy one. So what is it that you would like to have as a future?"

Rin looked to both of his parents, that room was silent after Mina's father had said his peace, this was the first that any of them, had heard about this silent war, going on outside of the solar system.

"I'd... I'd like to sing, I want to sing. Tonight was the first time, that I felt accepted, when I heard the crowed after I finished, it felt so good..." That was Mina again; her voice was so soft, that it was almost missed by everyone in the kitchen.

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She was in her room again, looking out the window, dressed in her pajamas. That had been the first time, in eleven years she'd been face to face with her parents, first time that she could remember her father talking to her. After they had left, she had asked her 'uncle' what her father was like, and he had told her, that as a friend he was a good one, but as an enemy he was someone to be feared, that he was brutal and aggressive when it came to a fight. But above all, he did it all to protect the people that mattered to him.

She shook her head, she knew she was related to them, but they felt like complete strangers to her, she had distant fuzzy memories of being someplace that had a strange hum to it, and that it was always night outside, and them being around her, sometimes both, but usually just one of them. They had both been supportive of her, when she had told them that she wanted to sing, that she felt so good, at hearing the crowed.

She was pulled from her thoughts, by a gentle knocking at her door, fallowing by it opening and closing again, "That went a little better than I thought it would have..." that voice was her 'aunt', she always had a way of seeing the brightest sides of things.

She shrugged, and hugged herself, well looking out the window, "It's not like I've really got a shot at it, I'd have to find a manager, and then try to get a lucky break..."

"I'll be your manager, and you won't need much of a lucky break, just people to listen to your soul as you sing. I can talk to some people, and try to get your face seen, and your voice heard to start. I should still know some people in the entertainment world. But you might get stuck with being an opening act for a little while." Said Lacus as she hugged the younger woman standing at the window.

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They pulled into a drive-way, of a little house on the beach; they exited the car, and tried an old pair of keys in the old red door. The house was being tended too by the people that knew its owners, but it was the inside that felt a little empty, though full furnished, and maintained, there was a warmth that was missing from it.

"She didn't want much to do with us." Said the woman, as she placed her purse on the table, after hanging her jacket by the door, well taking off her shoes.

"Can you really blame her? We've been out of her life for most of it, and we show up, and are like, 'Hi pumpkin, how are you doing?'" he sighed mid sentence, "Maybe we made the wrong choice? I'd like to think that we made the right one." He finished as he slowly turned the lights on, in the house.

She hugged him from behind, "I think we did, it's just hard knowing that no matter what we did, we would've hurt someone... Mina might have been killed in that last battle, since our cabin had taken a direct hit, and was exposed to space. And the worst part is, that wasn't the first time, it had been hit, or blown apart, or we'd come close to getting killed." He sighed and patted her hands.

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Well that was chapter 2, I do hope you all enjoy it, it'll be a few days before I have chapter three ready, so please read and review it.

Thank you for reading this far.


	3. Chapter 3

Mended wings

A/N:

Reader, that information will be found out later, in the story, but there will be some reference made to what is going on.

Right on with the show!

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She sighed as she stepped off the bus, another day at a place that she didn't feel welcome at, she saw her 'cousin' vanish into a group of his friends, and that was when she saw them, the popular girls at school, four of them, they were walking towards her, she drew her books up to her chest, not sure what to do at this point.

"Hey, we saw you last night, on the 'Miss Orb 90' pageant..." one of them paused, as they gathered around her, "And I think, you should've won, Cathy Simons was probably sleeping with two of the three judges."

Mina blinked, these four usually spent time before first block tormenting her, not that reminders of last night were any better, but they were trying to be nice, it was a nice change, the second of the four spoke up, "So, would you like to have lunch with us today?"

She nodded, well managing to get out, "O...Okay." She felt good; it was like she was finally being accepted.

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A brown haired man, and a man with copper blond hair that was slowly starting to turn a little gray, were sitting at an out-door table, drinking some coffee, "That's the worst part Kira, we don't even know what or who they are. Five years ago, they just appeared and opened fire, on a scout ship."

Kira sat back in his chair, and looked at his friend, well thinking on his next words, "How is the war going though?"

Alexander leaned back, and took a sip; he wasn't any orders not to talk about it, but if anyone Kira could help him, figure things out, "Badly. They use thousands of fighters, in any given attack, our pilots are good, but they aren't _that_ good... Lost machines aren't a problem, we can make almost 300 Typhoons in a week, but the problem is pilots." He paused to take another sip, "Take the last battle we were in, out of the 48 fighters on the Seraphim, 4 of them came back. Out of the 44 shot down, 20 pilots managed to eject. The task force lost 5 frigates, 2 destroyers and a cruiser. Even the Seraphim almost went down," he sighed and put his cup down, "had Mina been on board, and in my cabin, she'd be dead now, we took several direct hits, and my cabin is still exposed to space."

"That would explain why the U.N.S. presence here on earth as thinned out so much over the last few years. Anything else you can tell me about them:" asked Kira, well looking out over the ocean.

"Either their craft are un-manned, or they are so far advanced that their ships can defy the laws of physics. You can't pull 3000 km / second, and turn at 90 degrees, and keep going in the new direction, without loss of speed, not without making the pilot a puddle of goo inside of the machine. That, and when we kill what they use as a command ship, the rest of their fleet shuts down, then starts to self destruct, going from largest to smallest." Said Alexander, as he poured more coffee, before taking a sip again.

"Well then what's the problem, just take out the command ships then." Spoke Kira, before adding, "But that's not everything is it? If it was, you would've done so already."

"You're right. We've only got five ships in the U.N.S. fleet, which can take out the command ships in time. It seems that, if we can't down them extremely fast, or they detect targeting RADAR pointed at them, they start to move the command functions to another ship in the fleet." Finished Alexander.

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She walked with a smile on her lips, she felt good, the day hadn't been a complete wash, people actually saw her performance, and had complemented her on it too, she was shaken out of her thoughts when she felt a bump against her left hip, she looked to the person that was walking beside her.

"I said, penny for your thoughts." He said to her, giving her a soft smile.

She smiled back at him, before leaning against a fence, and looking up at the sky, "That my life has really changed since last night. Your mom is going to try and help me get noticed, and maybe I'll actually have a chance to go after my dream... that maybe dreams do come true." Her smile fell, and she started looking sad again, "But then I remember that dreams only come true in stories. And I keep wondering when I' going to wake up, and find out that I was only dreaming all this, my life has been anything but that of a fairy tale princess."

"How so?" he asked her, he actually wanted to know this, it was so rare that she'd actually speak openly about what was on her mind.

"That I don't really know my parents, that my Mother is some kind of big war hero from the Bloody Valentine war, and my Father is some big-shot in the U.N.S., I've got fuzzy memories of them, from when I was like four or five years old, but not much... most of what I know and remember has been with you, Aunt Lacus and Uncle Kira." She sifted a little, "I wonder sometimes what my life would've been like had I been with my parents all this time, I wonder if I know them any better than I do now... Don't get me wrong, they said that they'd try to support me, as best as they can, with what I want to do. And then comes what my Father said, that they are fighting a war, for our very right to exist..." she was rambling partly at this point.

He moved around to be in front of her, to be face to face with her.

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A woman with milk chocolate brown hair, which was tightly held behind her head, and a woman with long pink hair were looking out the front window of a house; it was the one with the pink hair that spoke first, at the scene that was taking place in front of the house, "Well I didn't see that coming."

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Her mind was racing, she had been rambling to her cousin about this and that, just the things that had been on her mind lately, and now he was pressing against her, one hand was on her right hip, well the other was on the side of her face, she was marvelling in the this feeling it was electric, it felt so good, when it stopped and he pulled back slightly, she sensed it more than anything else, her eyes opened, she felt her cheeks were hot, and he was blushing too.

Rin looked at her, smiled and gently brushed the side of her face, _She's always been beautiful to me, to see her happy, and smiling, and that's what I like to see_. Those were his thoughts as he looked at her, she had rambled about maybe having a chance to have a boyfriend, a first kiss, he laughed on the inside, she had talked about a first kiss almost five times in as many minuets, she really must have been rambling at that point.

Her words were so soft and quite he almost missed them, "wow, I didn't think it'd feel that good."

He leaned his head against hers, and smiled at her, "Mina, you're smart, pretty, and talented. You need to believe in yourself, like I believe in you. Especially after last night, I think that was the first time, I really saw who you are."

She smiled at him, and kissed him this time, well she felt all giddy inside.

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"Wow, going for a second kiss already." This time it was the woman with the milk chocolate brown hair, "should we have a talk with them when they come in?"

Lacus smiled at her friend, as she watched her son, and her friend's daughter sharing their first couple of kisses, "Well I don't want to see either of them go through any heart ache, but sometimes things like this should be left to run its course." She shrugged, before continuing, "who knows, it might give her what she needs to get up on stage, and sing."

"Speaking of that, did you manage to get a hold of anyone?" asked the other woman.

Lacus' brow furled a little, "Yes and no Murrue, most of the people I knew are still in the business, but they were busy so I left messages, to have them call me back. I might have to try a more of a gambit, to help Mina on her way."

Murrue nodded, "I understand, still this is kind of cute to watch though, it makes me think about my first kiss." She laughed a little.

Murrue jumped a little, as she felt some hands on her hips, followed by her husband's voice, "What makes you think about your first kiss?"

She smiled and leaned against him, sixteen years of marriage, a child, and things really hadn't changed too much between them, in all that time, "Watching our daughter have her first two," she paused for a moment, "make that first three, kisses."

Murrue felt Alexander's body tighten, and she smirked to herself, before adding, "Don't get your tails in a knot, we both know the boy, and he's a good boy, see?" she finished by pointing out the window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was walked in through the front doors of a recruitment center that had been set up, in the main city of Orb, the marine sitting at the desk saw him, and snapped to attention, startling the girl sitting at the desk across from him, he returned the salute, before continuing on.

He could hear the marine speaking to the girl, as he went into the office to speak with the center's commander, "That was Captain Kross, he used to be a Typhoon pilot, now he commands a battle ship."

He knocked on the door, once he was told he come enter, he closed the door softly behind him, "How are our recruitment numbers looking?"

The man behind the desk looked up at him, before speaking, "They're low, but they are steady... but they aren't any where what we need. Maybe if people here knew about the war, it'd be different..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is there anything I could do, to make it so that you would like to put on a concert for her, here in Orb?" asked a woman with pink hair, into a video phone, talking to a well dressed man, on the other end.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Yamato, but a no-name like this, 'Mina Kross' just won't have the drawing power, to make it worth the cost of setting up a concert." He said back to her, out of all the people she knew, he was the only one to have gotten back to her, in a week.

"What if I were to be the head liner, and she was the opening act, timed so that she finished her set with a duet with me, well I start my set?" she asked him back, she really hadn't planned on going so far, but this was looking like the best shot.

The man on the other end, just about fell out of his chair, as he thought about the money that could be made from this, it had been years since Lacus Clyne had taken to the stage, her albums were still being sold, and were still selling out, "Would it be the start of a tour, or just a one off concert?"

"I was thinking one maybe two shows for sure, but after that, who knows." She smiled to herself, she could do a show or two, she missed being up on stage, being the center of attention. Not that she minded being a house-wife, but part of her longed for an aspect of her old life back.

"We can do that... I can see it now, 'For two nights only, Lacus Clyne, LIVE, IN PERSON!' it'll make a killing at the box office, and then the recordings from it, to be made into a live album..." the man was actually licking his lips at the thought of the money this would generate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So... _mother_, gosh that word feels strange to actually say, is there any chance I can actually see yours and father's ship?" she asked, as she was out shopping with a woman with milk chocolate brown hair.

The older woman, raised an eyebrow, before she spoke, "I'd prefer _mom_, but that might be asking a bit much. Alex was right, in the fact that we've been out of your life a long time, so small things like that might be out of the question for now... But I don't see a problem with that, the Seraphim is in dry dock, and it'll be there a while, perhaps tomorrow we can all go, kind of like a family outing... you know, the things that _normal_ families do."

The blondish-red haired girl picked up a shirt and held it against her, in a mirror, as she thought back on the last week of her now much more complicated life, to her first kiss, and the ones that fallowed, neither herself nor Rin had said much about that day, but neither of them had called an end to it, she noticed that in the mirror she had a bit of a blush to her cheeks as she thought about some of the more steamy privet moments she had had with him since that day, she was snapped out of her thoughts as one of the sales girls came up to her, "Oh my god! You're Mina Kross, you are the runner up of 'Miss Orb 90'! Can I have your autograph?"

Mina blinked a couple of times, as the girl handed her a pen, and her note book, she looked over to Murrue to see her nod, and give her a reassuring smile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mina walked in the front door, and dropped the bags to the floor, and took a deep breath, as she let it out, her 'aunt' was standing in front of her, with a smile on her lips.

"I've got some good news for you." Spoke the older woman, her smile becoming larger, "I've managed to get a concert set up, and you are the first person on stage."

Mina smiled, and hugged her aunt, tightly, then it hit her, first person on stage, "Who am I opening for?" she asked.

The older woman paused for a moment, before she said, "You're opening for me. I don't want to over-shadow your performance, that's why I'm making sure, that when your set finishes, and mine starts, we are going to sing a duet. I hope you don't mind..."

Mina felt a little crushed, she wouldn't be the star attraction, but she had to start somewhere, and at least she knew with her aunt, she'd get heard at the very least, "No, it's all right... but I don't know a lot of songs, well I do and I don't. The ones that I know enough to sing, without the lyrics are the ones by Sheryl Nome, and I know a couple of yours, but not much else."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That would be chapter three, things are just getting started now.

I know that these chapters have been shorter than the ones that I was writing for 'Feather's and Bones', but well I kind of got the impression that people liked more updates, rather than fuller chapters, so rather than 5k words, I've been aiming for about 2500.


	4. Chapter 4

A Father's Prerogative

A/N:

I know, it's been a bit slow to start, and probably not what most of you were expecting, but now things are getting going, with events that are going to sweep everything along.

Right, on with the show!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Almost a two months had gone passed since she found out about her first concert, it had taken that long for everything to be put into place, it was the final curtain call of the second night, as well as the third encore that night, she could hear the packed stadium, most of them calling "Lacus! Lacus!" but every now and then she heard, "Mina! Mina!"

She looked over at her aunt, as she took off her microphone head set, smiling back at her, "How did it feel, to make it through two nights back to back, to be on stage, singing for over 200,000 people between the two nights?"

Mina padded down her dress, well taking off her own microphone head set, "I don't have any words to even describe it... On the first night I was so scared, I thought I was going to be sick, but when I felt that spot light, it was like magic!"

She couldn't help but jump around on the stage a bit, holding her head set in both hands, her dress flowed, well changing colours to match her excitement.

Lacus walked over to her, and hugged her, "The hard part comes next, and that will be an album, that's the real test. But seeing as so many people were enjoying your songs, true they might have been written by someone else, but you made them your own tonight, I think you can count on a number of sales. Now let's get changed, and get something sweet, I want something sweet right now."

Mina smiled and nodded to her aunt, as the both headed to the dressing rooms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was sitting in his office on his ship, power had finally been restored, life support as well, he was attending to the pile of form letters, telling loved ones, that their son / daughter / husband / wife / brother / sister, had died, of the 19,999 people under his command, _only_ 167 had actually died in the last battle, he played that number over in his head, _only 167_...

He through the pen across the room, and slammed his hands down on his desk, as he cursed out loud, it was aggravating to him, no matter how hard the U.N.S. fought, they were barely winning, sure they would win the battle, but they were losing people. Machines could be replaced, easily, but people were another matter, at a minimum of 15 weeks for a marine, to over a year for a pilot, replacement personnel were not as plentiful as the machines that were being lost.

His eyes drifted to the pile of letters, half of them actually signed, the rest, just a stack of papers that had been given to him, to sign, for as HR put it, 'a personal touch', he didn't even know these people, never really talked to any of them, didn't have any idea who they were, what they might have been like.

She watched her husband, he was so angry with what was going on, she placed one hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it, she heard him sigh, and felt him relax a little, "I know it's hard on you Alex, especially with the Seraphim being out of action for another few months at the very least. On another note, Mina looked really good on stage the other night, granted we watched from the hill, since we couldn't get in to actually see it... thank god, your Typhoon has such a great audio pick up system, as well as zoom function."

"She did sound, and looked great didn't she?" he turned to look at her, even after all this time, she was still as beautiful to him now, as the day they had met, "Still I can't help but feel like I can never be a part of her world, and I feel so horrid for it." Both his and Murrue's eyes landed on a picture in a silver frame, that had shown the three of them, so much younger than they are now, sitting out in a green felid with a single tree providing the shade for them.

Murrue gently slapped the back of his head, before she scolded him, "Don't you dare start thinking that maybe we shouldn't have had her, or let her even know that we are her parents. I wouldn't have traded those first five years for anything... I know we've talked about having another baby, but I think I might be getting too old for that now, so let's just be happy with having one, even if she doesn't really know us..." she bent at her hips to kiss the top of his head, "Not that I'd be against a second child."

He smiled and pulled her into his lap, he started to kiss her, and gently tug at the buttons of her uniform.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She sat on the couch in the living room, her not, not boyfriend's head in her lap, she was idly playing with his brown hair, as they were watching some of the news, with her aunt and uncle, when it caught her attention;

"... and the biggest part of the recent Lacus Clyne shows, were the opening act of a one Mina Kross, the very same girl that came in second at the Miss Orb 90 pageant. Reports from local business in the entertainment industry have stated that interest in this young woman, is on the rise..."

As those words were said, she stopped playing with his hair, and she was fixed on the screen. Lacus looked at the girl; she couldn't help but smile, as she saw some of herself in her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Beep, beep, beep, beep..._

That was the sound coming from the door, followed by someone on the other side asking, "Captain, its important... are you awake?"

He slowly opened his eyes, and smiled at the still sleeping form of his wife, they'd been camped out on the floor of his office for two weeks now, as their cabin was still on the 'to be fixed' list, it wasn't a major system, so was a low priority, he stretched and stood, walking slowly to the door, he pressed the communications button, "I'm awake, what's going on?"

The voice of the young woman on the other side of the door was shaky, "Sir, we've got sighting of 'The Unity' in the system..."

In an instant, all tiredness left his body, "What? How did they get here? Never mind that, I want to know where were they last seen?"

Murrue woke to her husband's agitated voice, she rolled onto her belly, and smiled to herself, he was yelling at the door, naked, she licked her lips, as her smile got bigger; he'd worked so hard to keep his body in shape.

"They were seen heading towards Earth, almost three hours ago... Fort Victoria picked them up, breaching the atmosphere 10 minutes ago..." said the voice on the other side of the door again.

"I'll be on the bridge in 10, have us ready to leave dock in 9." He said as he walked away from the door, he kissed Murrue, before starting to get dressed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten minutes right on the nose, the door to the bridge opened, to reveal Alexander and Murrue, as they entered the bridge, taking their places at their stations.

"Captain, systems are showing that we are only going to be at 60 percent combat effectiveness, are you sure you want us to launch?" asked the woman running the CIC.

"We are going to lend whatever hand we can, even as handicapped as we are right now, we still have a lot of fire power... can we get a fix on where they are?" Alexander called back, as Murrue started to feed commands from the station to the person at the helm of the Seraphim.

The 1600 meter long ship pulled away from the docking clamps, three of its massive four engines emitted a blue-white light, as the ship tore free from the station.

As the ship approached the planet, it rotated to a 30 degree angle; the sections that were still exposed to space were sealed off, to prevent the damage they were going to take, from spreading to the rest of the ship.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She was running, beside her, were some of her class mates, they were running for their lives, strange black shapes were in the sky, they had round bodies, long and pointed at one end, wings that ran the length of the body they were concaved, as well as being long and pointed at each end, but it was the sound that they made, as they flew through the air, so shrill and terrifying.

She looked up, there were dozens of them, fighting with Typhoon units, locked in the dizzying dance in the sky, explosions marked the end of some of the craft, be it Typhoon or these new things.

From where she was, she could see one of the new things, fly over her head, to where her friends had run ahead, and drop something from the body, she felt the urge to stop, and did so, just as it exploded, in a shower of fragmentation, ripping the people that were ahead of her apart, all she could do was retch on the spot at the twisted meat of the people she had just started to get to know.

She felt a hand on her shoulders, and screamed, before turning her head to see her cousin standing behind her, she took his extended hand, and they both started to run, hand in hand, from the carnage being unleashed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alex, it's been a long time, since you've actually flown in combat..." she was fuming, he'd told her, to take command of the ship, as he was going to go out and try to help the forces that were trying to defend from the attack.

"I'm still a qualified combat pilot Murrue." He said back to her, as he zipped up his flight gear.

"That's got nothing to do with it; you've got other responsibilities now!" she was on the verge of tears, something was nagging at her, she just couldn't pin point what it was.

He turned to face her, that soft loving smile on his face, as he pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her, before telling her, "Murrue, our daughter is down there, and Orb needs our help. All I do on the bridge is bark orders, or I just sit there, doing nothing, everyone on the bridge knows their roles well." His smile got bigger, and a little goofier, "Besides when I get back, you can yell at me then. Just remember I love you, and I'll be back, with victory in hand." He kissed her again, before grabbing his helmet and running out to the nearly empty flight deck.

She watched him, walk up to his fighter, it was still the white, black and yellow that it used to be, but the tails were now different, rather than the skull and cross bone, that was their 16 years ago, it now had a stylised grim reaper, with one hand out stretched, it's boney finger pointing down the body, with rose petals dropping from its hand, in the other hand was a massive scythe, that reached its curve just under the tip of the tail, where the blade met the haft, was a collection of roses, on vines.

She watched as it launched from the bay, before she returned to the bridge, having taken a moment to dry her eyes, and regain her composure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mina and Rin had been running for so long, they were on the edges of the city, and they both looked skyward, as they saw the clouds darken, before the massive metal leviathan breached them, they watched as weapon batteries came to life, and started to strike down these invaders, as best as they could.

"That's my parent's ship... but it's damaged..." she managed to get out between gasps for air.

Rin too was gasping for air, "We'll be okay, I'm sure they won't let anything happen."

She smiled at him; he always had a way of making her feel more comfortable, when she was scared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alexander grunted under the strain, it really had been a long time for him, he put his craft into a high g-turn to get a missile lock on one of the enemy craft, with the buzzing in his ears, he released a volley of four missiles at it, he watched as the smoke trails reached the craft, turning it into a massive fire-ball.

He pitched his craft to the left, to come around again, just as it fired a green energy beam at him, the emerald beam skimmed the body of his craft, bringing down his barrier system, but it was the second beam, which did the damage. The weapon flew in through the port side engine, and right out the back of the after burner, his craft shuttered, as the engine was torn apart by the beam.

He pitched his nose around, and returned fire, with the particle cannons mounted in the wings, brining the craft down, in a twisted shower of metal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murrue's eyes were fixed on the 49 green or red silhouettes of Typhoons, only five of them were green, but she saw it, the one with 'Reaper' written under it, turned yellow, her heart sank, "Tell him to RTB, he's been hit." She called out, to the person running the CIC.

She saw his face come up, on the screen, behind that mask, showing red lights in the cockpit, reflecting off of the glass, she could see smoke starting to fill the air around him, "Alright, you've done what you can, time to come home Alex." She said to him, as she fought to keep her emotions under control, her mind filled with memories of the last time she saw this, it had been years ago, just before the first time they had been to Orb.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alexander was fighting to keep his craft under control, as he over flew the ground, it was out of the corner of his eyes, that he saw it, Rin and his daughter, were about to be steeped on, by one of 'The Unity's' combat units, that had rotated it's wings down, to be like legs, one of them raised high.

He sighed inwardly as he pushed his throttle wide open, pulling up, then around and down, flying hard and fast towards them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Murrue, remember, I love you." He said, as he closed the channel, she turned to look at the person running the CIC, as they spoke, "Commander, Reaper, has turned towards one of 'The Unity's' craft..."

She hurried over to watch the RADAR display, as the two blips neared one another, then both vanished from the screen, it was the words of the flight operations that broke the silence, "Reaper has been destroyed."

Murrue, looked back to her station, to see the top Typhoon on the screen, go from yellow to red, only one word, escaped her lips, "No..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well I do hope, that this little cliff hanger, is met with some degree of success, and I do hope that you all enjoyed it. The next one is going to be a bit of action, and a bit of not so much action.

Thank you for reading this far.


	5. Chapter 5

Falling Star

(Part two of A Father's Prerogative)

A/N:

The first part is going to be from Alexander's point of view, and his thoughts, before the impact.

I do hope everyone enjoyed chapter 4, chapter five is one to tug at the heart strings a little, and I hope you all enjoy it, and I do hope it tugs at you a little.

Right, on with the show!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_I felt the blood being sucked from my head to my legs, as I snapped into a high G-turn, after telling the love of my life, that I loved her. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but it's for the best, I may have been a lousy father, but I can at least try to do something right._

_I hit the "G" button, shifting into the hybrid mode for my Typhoon, and open the throttle as far as forward as I can, driving it into the 200 percent range, with my right hand, I let go of the stick, to disable the built in safety features. The extra thrust slams me back even harder, I let myself have a moment, to look at my little girl's image on my screen, she looks so frightened, my eyes drift to the picture of Murrue and my little girl, just after she was born, that was tucked into the dash of my fighter, I take another deep breath, knowing that this will likely be my last act, please, if there is some higher power out there, let this work. Mina, Murrue, I love you both. I close my eyes and let the blackness over take me._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She gripped Rin's arm as tightly as she could, looking up at this black thing, with its leg held high, _Am I going to die, like this?_ She wondered to herself.

That was when she saw it, a white and black Typhoon, with a trail of black smoke, in its hybrid mode, slam into the craft, and lift it into the sky, the trail of black smoke, vanished into the cloud cover, followed closely by a deafening explosion.

She looked at Rin, and he held her close, both of them, relived they had come so close to getting killed, and now some pilot, had just saved them, it was a heart beat or three, before they saw something falling from the sky, it was long and slender, it kind of looked like the cockpit section of a Typhoon, it hit the ground, tip first, and started to flip end for end, then again, and again, and again. It slammed into the side of a building, then bounced in an elliptical path, before coming to a resting stop, in front of them both, the glass was cracked and stained with blood.

The sight of the blood caused Mina to retch again; she had a very weak stomach, just the sight of it, she found upsetting. Rin helped her to her feet, "Do you think we should find out, who they were?"

Mina nodded, and walked over to the wreckage, she rubbed the area that was covered in dirt and oils, the place that should have the name of the pilot written.

As she rubbed off each letter, she repeated them to Rin;

C

A

P

T.

"What does that mean?" she called over to him.

"Captain, I think, so who ever this was, they were important." He called back, "What's next?"

A

L

E

X

A

N

D

E

R

Reading that name, she felt some fear grip her, she rubbed off the next few letters, and yelled them back with some confusion.

R

E  
A  
P  
E  
R

But it would be the next word, which would cause her to feel tears starting to make their way down her cheeks.

K

R  
O  
S  
S

"No, please, daddy no!" she cried out, as she beat her fists against the cracked glass, Rin had come over to her, to find out why she stopped calling out the letters, after the 'K' he read the name, and understood why she was crying, she had said to him and only him, that part of her hated her parents for pushing her away, and here, her father had made what seemed like an ultimate sacrifice, for her, he'd been a real parent, and protected her, with his very life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murrue picked herself up from the floor of the bridge, she didn't want to cry, she couldn't cry right now, later, later she would cry, she took a moment to settle herself, she could feel the tears coming, and her voice was shaky, as she spoke, "What is the situation?"

It took a few moments, before anyone else on the bridge spoke, "They seem to be retreating... Orb defence forces are joining the battle."

Murrue took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, "Launch search and rescue craft, bring us into land, off of Onogoro Island, and bring us into port, at Morgenroete... I'll be in the Captain's office." She slowly left the bridge, in privet she would break down and cry.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She didn't know how long, she'd been hitting her fists against the metal of the machine, she had felt Rin let go of her at some point, she hadn't even heard or felt the wind pick up, as something landed near them, it was when she felt someone's arms go around her waist and pull her from the wreckage, that she turned on them, to face them, she couldn't see their face, but she knew the symbol that was on the white body armour, that was the same symbol that was on the side of her parents uniforms, as well as a red cross on the other side of their chest.

Her mind really wasn't processing what was going on, she could see the mouth of the person move, but she couldn't hear them, her eyes drifted back to the twisted metal that was the coffin for her father, she could see another person in white body armour open a panel and then the glass came free, they looked inside, and stuck a hand in, then pulled away quickly, and started to yell something, the person that was standing in front of her, turned and ran back into the craft, that had landed, it's boxy frame, was laid open, they ducked inside, and came out, with a second person, and a stretcher.

Her eyes traveled with them, as they got to the wreckage, and they started to lift the body out of it, and placed it on the stretcher gently, the person that had called for them, grabbed the bag of fluid, and ran with the other two back into the craft, they took a moment to yell at her and Rin, before they were in the craft. She felt Rin take her arm, and pull her along, into the craft.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They sat across from the team of people that had pulled the flight gear off of the body, they were working so hard on it, and she couldn't understand why, she was finally starting to process what was being said.

"... Fuck, add four broken ribs to the list, damn it, one of them is sticking out of the skin!" one of the three called, to the others.

She was feeling so numb, this couldn't be happening, not to her, things were starting to fall into place for her, and now she was watching as someone that hadn't meant much to her, at least she had thought so, till this moment in time, their head rolled to the side, blood running from the nose, and sides of his mouth, she could feel his green eyes on her, he raised his left arm and hand, almost reaching for her, she could see the blood running down the arm, it had reached a point where it had been level, then it fell to the floor, as what looked like the spark of life left his eyes.

She heard an alarm go off, and one of the three called out again, "Shit! He's crashing! We've got to get his heart going again! Get me some adrenalin... damn it, this is the fourth time! There is no way; we are going to make the flight back to the Seraphim... Find some place closer!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Commander?" A soft voice spoke out, from the door way, she could hear the crying of her commander from the dark room.

She took a steep into the room, before she spoke again, "We got a message from Nightingale 5, and they found the wreckage of the Captain's plane..."

As she said that, the crying was joined by a mournful moan, she felt so bad about hearing this, "They are diverting to a local hospital... the Captain is alive, but they said he couldn't live through the flight here or to Fort Victoria..."

The crying became sniffles, as she continued, "He's in really bad shape... They are going to use the radio to tell us, where they are, when they land, I'll have a transport ready on the shuttle deck, by the time you get down there, if you want to go..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mina sat in the waiting room, after having had some doctors take a look at her, finding that nothing was wrong, she was sent to wait, her eyes were fixed on the red lit sign that said "OPERATING ROOM" she felt so helpless, Rin had come and gone, having called his parents to let them know where they are, and that they are both okay.

"I'm such a horrible person Rin, I said that I hated him, and then... then..." she started crying again, Rin reached over, and pulled her into his arm, well gently stroking her back.

Time passed for the two of them, holding each other, reading magazines, or pacing across the floor, before they were joined by two women and one man.

Mina looked to the taller of the women, with the milk chocolate brown hair, and spoke "I'm sorry." Before more tears started to escape her eyes.

Murrue looked at her daughter, she was a little dirty, and had some minor scrapes, but other than that, she seemed fine, "Sorry for what?" she asked, moving to hug the girl.

"Daddy, he... he..." she was choking on her words again, more tears were going down her face, all she could do was burry her face in her mother's chest, her body shaking with every sob.

Murrue was confused, she looked to Rin, whom was being held by his parents, he pushed himself free, and said, "Captain Kross, saved us, one of those things, it was going to step on us, and he flew into it, and flew away with it, then there was an explosion, and then we saw the nose of his Typhoon hit the ground, right in front of us..." he paused, "There was a lot of blood."

Murrue was starting to feel a little numb, she had to stay in control, and she took a deep breath, before asking, "How long, has he been in surgery?"

"A couple of hours." Said Rin, looking her in the eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It had been hours, Mina had fallen asleep with her head in Murrue's lap, before the light went out, letting them know that the operating room, was no-longer in use, as the doors opened, she saw the doctor come out, his gown had a lot of blood on it, he pulled his mask off, and took off the cap that was on his head, and she couldn't help but smile at the doctor. He'd been on the Arc-Angel, one of the civilians that had been rescued during the Bloody Valentine war, he walked over to her.

"It's good to see you again Murrue..." he said, his features were sad, and she felt a cold grip on her heart.

"Is he...?" she asked, softly, she wasn't sure if she could take bad news at this point.

"The long and short of it is, he's a tough one, the crash didn't kill him, four heart failures on the way here didn't take him, another two on my table, massive blood loss... to be to the point, if he lives through the night, I'll be impressed." He gently patted her shoulder, "Sorry I couldn't do more... so you might want to go see him, and say anything you need too, just encase."

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Murrue sat beside his bed, he looked like he was sleeping, he had a mask over his nose and mouth, she couldn't see much of his body, but his face was badly cut in several places, with many butterfly sutures holding the cuts closed, she held his right hand, and started to talk to him, "Jerk, you said you wouldn't leave me alone. That I'd never be alone again..." her voice was faltering on her, as tears started to fall from her eyes, "We were just starting to finally be a family, and then you had to go and play the role of the noble knight," she wiped her eyes, "you always have to go and do that, knowing that its foolish, especially after you've been out of the cockpit for so long..." she was crying now, resting her head against his immobile hand.

Mina sat on the other side, and held his other hand, she sniffled and said, "I know I haven't been a perfect kid, and I've even said some things I don't mean about you..." her lower lip started to tremble, "But I need my daddy now, more than ever. Everyone says you are some kind of hero, so show me... the Hero should never die, please come through."

Lacus held her husband as her and her family watched the scene unfold before them, a good friend close to death, she looked to Kira, for some sense of what to do, Kira looked at her, he had nothing to offer, no direction to give. He just didn't know what to say or do.

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He had no idea how long he'd been out, the last thing he remembered, he thought it was a memory or was it a dream, he'd seen his little girl, crying, he had reached for her, before he passed out, even now, his whole body burned, he could feel the blankets with the tips of his toes, so that had to be a good sign, it meant his spine was okay, he could feel pressure on his hands, so they were fine. There was a rhythmic beeping, had to be an E.K.G. of some kind, he willed his eyes to open, at first nothing, some fear griped him, was he blind now?

He tried again, this time, he felt some pain, as the room was bright, he looked to his right, he could tell that his eye was maybe half open, he noticed a mop of brown hair, he forced a smile, it hurt so much, his lips cracked as he tried to speak, it came out so horse, "hey..."

She looked up, had she just heard his voice? Was she dreaming this? As her eyes fixed on his face, she saw a half open green eye, looking at her, she started to smile, as more tears came down her face, "Jerk."

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Hope you all enjoyed that, and that at some point, you really felt for them, if not, I guess I'll have to try harder...

Thank you for reading this far.


	6. Chapter 6

Faded stars

A/N:

Well I do hope you all enjoyed chapter 5, and I do hope that it did tug at some heart strings, anyways, here comes chapter 6

Right, on with the show!

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She was smiling at him, with a tear making its way down her flushed cheeks, "Jerk, how could you do that to me?"

He gave a weak smile, even that hurt, "Did it work? Did I manage to save them both?"

She nodded, "Yes, it worked, and seems to have been the thing to prove to Mina, that we do care about her, and that we did what we did for her safety... Still, I wish you hadn't done that. When I saw the icon for your Typhoon go red, it felt like my heart stopped, and everything didn't matter anymore..." she started to trail off.

He leaned into the pillows, "How long, have I been out? Or am I actually dead?"

The last part of his words snapped Murrue's attention, "You died, six times, before they got you patched up, enough that you no longer needed to be surgery... As for how long you've been out..." the clicking of a pen, took both of their attentions.

"Well Captain, you are either too lucky, or death doesn't want you." Spoke the doctor with a bit of a smile to his face, to his patient awake and speaking hoarsely, before he continued, "But you've been out for about a week now... Your lovely wife has only left the side of your bed, when we've forced her too... Speaking of that, I've got the results from your physical, Murrue."

She held Alexander's right hand, well rising an eyebrow, towards the doctor, he smiled, before he spoke, "Well I think we've figured out why you've been sick in the mornings," he patted her on the shoulder, "congratulations."

Alexander blinked his one half open eye, well Murrue spoke in a low, rather un-impressed voice, "What?"

The Doctor took a moment, and flipped through to her pages, "Yes, Murrue Ramius Kross, it came up in your blood work, you are three weeks pregnant. And at your age, that's actually quite a feat. At 43, it's only about a 10 percent chance of actually getting pregnant without the aid of the fertility treatments..." he trailed off, as he noted the more or less stunned faces of the two of them.

"But... I... wow..." she stumbled out, looking to her husband; he tried his best to squeeze her hand, but seemed to lack the strength for it.

"I take it, this is a bit unexpected? Still if you wish to proceed with the pregnancy, I highly recommend going to in-active status for you Murrue, as the chance of miscarriage is so much greater at 43, then it would have been when you had Mina. As well as the chance for birth defects are also much greater... but those can be taken care of so easily now. But I'll give you both sometime to think on this, it's not an easy decision at this stage in your lives." He put down Alexander's charts and left the room.

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Mina was walking to her father's room, in the hospital, she'd become such a regular sight here, that much of the staff was starting to recognise her, and not ask where she was going, as she entered the room, she placed her book bag on the extra chair in the room, well starting to take out some books, she spoke, "Hi mom, how's daddy today?"

She smirked to herself, eight days ago, she never would've thought she'd ever call her father that, but funny things happen when someone saves your life, she jumped when she heard the horse voice of her father speak up, "You know, you could have just asked me, how I was doing..."

As she turned to see her mother, trying to suppress her amusement, she could see her father's green eyes half open, and a bit of a smile on his face, she felt so reassured to see that spark back in his eyes, remembering the last time she saw them, they were empty and lifeless. "When... when did you wake up?" she said that as tears started to run down her cheeks,

"Not long, I'd say about twenty minutes ago." Spoke Murrue, as she squeezed Alexanders hand again, "So what did you bring by to work on today?" finished Murrue, eyeing the back pack.

Mina lifted out a note book, and held it to her chest, thinking about her words, before she chose them, "I have an assignment, it's to interview a personal hero, up until a week ago, I was planning on interviewing Aunt Lacus, but plans changed, to you Mom, but I hope you don't feel rejected, that I'm going to change it to Daddy, since he's awake now..."

Murrue looked to Alexander, he nodded, before he spoke, "I still need to rest, I'm not that strong yet, and so your mom can help with some of the answers."

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Rin had been walking around, unsure of himself, since that day a week ago, not sure what to do, he kept replaying it in his mind, and being helpless, he tossed a rock into the ocean, as his father came and sat on the beach beside him.

"Rin, is there something you would like to talk about?" asked the older man, looking at his son, he knew what was bothering him, but wanted the boy to tell him.

"How did you make the choice dad? To fight in the Bloody Valentine war, what made you pick up a gun and start to fight?" he asked, turning to face his father, "Ever since seeing Mina's dad almost kill himself to save us, I've been wondering if I have the strength to protect people too..."

Kira leaned back, and closed his eyes, trying to remember what gave him the will to start to fight, the first image that came to his mind was Lacus, but he knew that she came along later, it took a few moments, then it came back to him, "I fought to save my friends, the people that meant the world to me, back then. Without them, I don't think I would've made it through the war... Rin, it's never an easy thing to do, to pull a trigger, and after wards, you have to live with yourself..."

"But Captain Kross, and you have done it lots, and made it through okay..." Rin pressed the issue.

"I have a lot of blood on my hands, and they will never be clean again, Alexander deals with it, in his own way, but fact is, we both had killed a lot of people, and it is something we have to accept, and look ourselves in the eyes, when we look in a mirror. Just think everything over, before you do anything rash, alright?" Kira asked his son

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A week after waking up, Alexander was happy to be out of the hospital, even if he was being wheeled around by Murrue, he sighed, and she kissed the top of his head, "Don't feel bad Alex, you did something stupid, noble, but stupid, and now you have the pay the price. But the Doctor did say that you'd be moving on your own, in a few more days, till then love, please be good."

He sighed again, and looked up at her, "Still, did you have to bring us to Morgenroete, with me in a wheel chair?"

"Well I thought you could do with some fresh air, and I know the Bridge Bunnies, are dying to know how you are doing, and after keeping them in the dark for a week, why not let them see their Captain?" she asked as they started to near the loading ramp to the ship.

As they both entered the ship, the marines standing guard inside the ship, called out, "CAPTAIN ON DECK!"

Everyone working away in the cargo bay, stopped what they were doing, and turned to look, at the man in the wheel chair, it started slowly, and quietly, but soon got louder and faster, as the crew started to clap for him, as they made their way to the bridge.

"Have you heard anything about the Captain yet? It's kind of strange that they'd keep everything under wraps, about his condition..." spoke a young woman with closely cropped red hair, her white bridge officer's uniform fit snugly around her body.

"Nope, but I did hear, from one of the pilots, whom knows a girl, who's room-mate is dating an intern, who works in the base hospital on the floor below the I.C.U. that some V.I.P. patient woke up, a week ago." Called back a girl with blond hair, from her station in the C.I.C.

Murrue has done her best not to let out a giggle at hearing the girls talk back and forth, about Alex, and she gently nudged him, as the door opened, "You should know that unless you have it first hand, anything else is worthless information." He grumbled out.

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She was sitting on the chair, in her underwear, leaning forward, and hugging her cleavage together, as a white jacket was draped over her shoulders, she heard the photographer called to her "Can you look a little more pouty with your lips, and playful with your eyes?"

She shifted her blondish red hair, that was now in a pony tail, so that it fell over the rank bars of the white U.N.S. officer jacket, well trying to make her lips look the way the photographer asked, well trying to look as playful as possible, as the clicking sound from the camera went, again, and again, and again, she tried a newer pose, then it hit her, something different to try.

She stood up, and put her back to the camera, and gave a sexy playful look over her right shoulder, well hugging the jacket around her shapely body, and that was when she heard it, "That's perfect Mina, that'll will make it into the final posters for sure! Get something to drink, we've got to take a look at these first."

Mina nodded, and skipped off the stage, well holding the jacket tightly, she'd been entrusted with it, and had been careful with it, as she took a sip of water, and she looked over at her Aunt that had come with her to this photo-shoot, "I can't believe I'm doing this, Aunt Lacus, and that my parents are actually okay with me doing this..."

The older pink haired woman smiled at her, "Mina, just remember, you chose to help the U.N.S. in a way that you could. And, it's a paying job too, they are paying you, 250 dollars per photo that they are actually going to use, so even if it's just one, it's a start."

Mina nodded, then moved to look at the images on the computer, that were being roughed out, the one of her on the chair, with her lips pouting, her cleavage pushed together, and across the bottom it read, 'I love a man in uniform.' Mina looked at her aunt, and she felt so speechless.

Lacus walked over, saw the screen, and smirked, "I think Rin is going to be upset when he sees that, then again, it might be what he needs to make up what's on his mind."

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A man with copper blond hair, that was slowly starting to go gray, was sitting at a table, with a boy with light brown hair, the older man, spoke up, "I was your age, the first time, I flew in combat, and I shot someone down... after I landed, my wingman, whom had been flying a lot longer than I had, pulled me aside, and pushed me into the lavatory, before he told me, if I needed to vomit, then do it now, and that he'd never tell anyone that I had to, after I killed someone for the first time. Thinking back on it, after such a long time, that simple act, helped me, and as I vomited, yes I actually did, he told me, 'It's hard, the first time, but it gets easier ever time afterwards...' I never knew how true those words would be, till I repeated them to your father, almost 18 years ago now."

Rin was leaning back in his chair, looking at Mina's father, as they were talking, it had been his father's idea, that he sit and talk to Alexander, to hear him talk about what it takes to be a soldier. "How do you deal with it, though?"

"I try not to think about the people that I kill, but for those that I lose under my command, I write their names down, in a book I have, and that was given to me, by the same pilot that helped me, get used to flying in combat... in some 28 years I've only ever been able to scratch one name out of that book... I look at it, from time to time, to remind myself to do better, that I have to be a better officer and leader, to prevent needless deaths of the people under me." Alexander spoke, as he looked out over the water, thinking about a little black book, which was locked away in his desk on the Seraphim, "And believe me Rin, as an officer, your mistakes get placed into body bags... And there are times, when you have to send people to die, because you have to tend to the needs of the many, rather than the needs of the few. Just think things over, if you do join the U.N.S., and I won't lie, we need the people, but it's not something you can just walk away from, at any given point.

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Well that was chapter 6, I do hope you are all enjoying it, I know it's a bit slower than the first one, but hey, I'm working from a completely original plot here...

Anyways, please read and review, and as always;

Thank you for reading this far.


	7. Chapter 7

Gravity

A/N:

I hope to get things off to more of a start soon, and try to get time to actually sit down and write, but new jobs tend to get a little demanding at times.

Right, on with the show!

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Rin didn't know how long he had been looking at the poster standee that was set up in one of the windows of the U.N.S. recruitment center, it was Mina standing with her back facing him, dressed only in a male officer's uniform jacket, well she was giving a sultry look over her shoulder, the words written across the bottom read 'Join the U.N.S. if you want to see more.' He sighed, such a play with the words.

He jumped a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and spun his violate eyes to see an older man, in a white uniform, looking at the poster as well, "She sure is grown up... and don't think too much of it, it's an old way of getting men to join up, use the lure of a beautiful woman, is it a little underhanded, probably, but it's just to get them in the door, after that, we stop using promises like this. Still, are you sure you want to do this Rin?"

Rin nodded, "I want information first, before I make up my mind first."

"That's all well and good, but is this something you really want to do? If you do decide to join, you will very likely be put into battle, no matter the path you take, in the service. I'm only telling you this Rin, because I don't want to see you get over your head like your father did, during the Bloody Valentine war." Said the older man, after running a hand through his copper blond hair, before giving the boy a shove through the doors.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A tall lanky man, with a clip board was standing in a room full of young women, and a few other people, that seemed to be very well dressed, he looked over his list on the clip board, before calling out the next name of the list, "Miss Mina Kross, they will see you now."

At hearing her name, a beautiful young woman, of 16, going on 17, with a shapely frame, long blondish red hair, and amber coloured eyes, stood, and looked over to the woman that was sitting beside her, with long pink hair, the woman gave her a reassuring smile, with a nod.

After she walked into the room, and the door closed behind her, she noted three people sitting behind a desk, _the middle one, must be the director, the other two are talking to him..._

She was pulled from her thoughts, as she heard the director speak, "No, No, NO! She would be perfect for that part!"

Mina shifted a little, it'd been months since she felt so self conscious, she tugged at the loops of her pants, before she spoke, "I'd like to audition for the part of the..." she was cut off again, by the director, "Miss, I have a perfect role for you, that is if you are willing to cut your hair, and dye it a different colour... doing those two things, and you will be perfect!"

_Cut my hair? And Dye it? But I spent so much time, growing it,_ she thought as she fiddled with it, absentmindedly, _but if I do, do that, then I have a garneted part, and it'd be my big premier on screen! And I can always grow my hair again._ She stopped playing with her hair, and asked, "How short do you want it?"

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Mina was on cloud nine; she opened the front door, of a little house on the beach, walked in, and flopped down on a red couch, kicking her legs over an arm rest, she had been trying to spend some time here, trying to get to know her parents, two to three nights a week, she would be here, in her parent's home, and four to five nights she'd be at her Aunt's and Uncle's place.

She was flipping through the script that she had been given, she could hear her mother in the kitchen humming away, working away on something, she got to a point in the script, that made her give a quizzical look at it, then she asked, "Mom, do you have a few minutes?"

Murrue, put down what she was working on, and came into the door way of the living room, to see her daughter, flipping through some papers, "What can I do for you Mina? Oh! How did the audition go?"

"I got a part, not the part I was going for, but I didn't even have to audition, all I have to do, is cut my hair, and dye it... It's no lead, but I'm a supporting character, I'm going to have a good amount of screen time and a lot of lines..." she said, looking her mother up and down, looking at how she was carrying herself.

"So, what's the movie called? And what role are you playing?" Asked Murrue trying to get a glimpse of the title.

"It's called, 'Angel feathers'... it's about the role that the ship Arch-Angel played in the Bloody Valentine war..." she paused to see her mother stiffen a little, before taking a seat across from her, her expression was soft, but there was something in her eyes, that she wasn't letting through, "I get to play the role of the captain... whom is you, actually... So I was wondering if there is anything that you can tell me, that didn't make it into the official reports, that isn't still classified, and that might help me, get into the role better."

Murrue stood back up, and walked over to the china cabinet, and she opened the third drawer, pulling free a little book, she ran her fingers over the cover, stopping as they reached the writing in the middle that said 'Captain's Log book', "There is a lot, I could tell you, about what happened, and I can bet, that what's going to be in that movie, is going to be a very limited viewing of what actually went on..." she paused, taking a deep breath, as she sat back down, and opened the book, "This book is my log book, from the Arch-Angel... I wasn't ready for command back then, and this book became more of my diary then an actual log book."

Mina sat upright, and looked at her mother, she seemed kind of distant right now, and she didn't understand why. Her mother continued, "If you read it, you'll see what was going on in my head back then, as well as you'll get an understanding of how I met your dad.." as she trailed off, Murrue's expression became very soft, and inviting.

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Rin was sitting at the kitchen table, a piece of paper was all that was in front of him, and a pen was to his right. Every time he picked up the pen, to him it suddenly became heavy, and he just had to put it back down.

Behind their son, stood Kira and Lacus, she was holding Kira's hand, and looked to him, before whispering to him, "Should we say something?"

Kira looked to his wife, friend and confident, before he chose his words, "I think it's something he's either going to do, he has to make his own path. I'm glad Alexander took the time to talk to him, and told him the whole truth about what it would mean to fight."

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"I can bring in a VF-27-R model if you think it would help, with an integration of the systems." Said a man with copper blond hair that was slowly turning gray, his white uniform looked out of place in a building full of jump suites.

A woman with a red jacket and white slacks gave him a quizzical look, "What's an R-type?" he blondish brown hair shifted over to the side as she tilted her head.

"They are the recon models, they use the body of the VT-27-D, a trainer type, because it's got extra room for electronics that get used for ECM and ECCM, an AWACS system, and the networking system for up to three GHOST units..." He said as he leaned against a wall, and trailed off, as a thought came to his mind.

She sat down, and was given another question to ask, "And the GHOST units would be?"

He sighed, and shook his head, "Un-manned air-craft, I personally don't like them, they have a built in A.I. system, that makes them a little flaky, but they can move with abilities that regular fighters can't match. But they'd help fill the gap that we are in right now, they cost about the same as a Typhoon, but we don't have to train a pilot for each one, one 'pilot' for every three or four."

"That'd be a good place to start from; perhaps we could integrate our DRAGOON system to a Typhoon, but please, lend us an R-type, and I'll see about getting that project started as soon as possible." She said to him, bowing her head a little.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mina was up in the room that had been given to her, by her parents, reading the book that her mother had given her; she started laughing, after reading one of the passages in it.

_2.9. C.E. 71_

_That arrogant jerk! I can't believe he let me look like a complete fool, during that mock trial we held for Kira Yamato, and then to turn the tables on me..._

_In some ways he reminds me so much of the Alexander Kross I knew, but this one is so different, he's almost predatory in the way he moves, and thinks... But he did what he did for the right reasons, I guess._

_Still part of me wishes he could be a little nicer to me, in more than just behind closed doors, still without him, I don't think we would've made it this far, only a couple of days before we meet up with the 8__th__ fleet, once that's done, I can get back to being an engineer, and not have to have the weight of command on my shoulders. But I can't help but wonder, that if that happens, does it mean I can start looking at having a personal life again?_

Mina stopped reading at that point, and looked at a picture of her parents that she had beside her bed here, they looked so happy in that photo, and wondered how they ever got to that point, biased off of the twenty days of pages in this little book, they seemed to have butted heads so often.

A soft knock at her door, took her attention, she saw her mother, standing in the door frame, with some clothing in her arms, and she spoke, "I don't know if there is going to be a scene in the movie or not, but if you have to do a scene with you, and whomever is playing the role of your father, that takes place one night in North Africa, make sure, you use this uniform jacket, to cover them up," she paused and laid out the jacket of her old Earth Forces uniform on Mina's bed, "I've tried for years to get those coffee stains out of it, but I guess four cups spilt in four hours, just managed to get so stained in it, that it's in there for good. But a few days after we landed in North Africa, you father came to my cabin, and fell asleep on my couch, and I placed this jacket over him, to let him get some rest."

Mina looked at the jacket, and asked, "So, when did you figure it out, when you were in love with dad?"

Murrue looked out the window over the ocean, and sighed heavily, "We were under attack, again, this time we were just outside of Orb waters, we were taking so much damage, my second in command, launched some missiles at one of the mobile suites that were attacking us, they missed and exploded, just in front of your Dad's Typhoon. Some missile fragments were sucked into one of the engines of the Typhoon, causing that engine to blow up, he got a message out, I still remember how much those words filled me with dread, 'Open the hanger, have emergency and fire crews on stand-by, I'm going to try and put her down, in one peace, but be ready to push the wreckage into the ocean.' Was what he said, I gave command to my second, and I sprinted down to the flight deck, when I got there, I saw him being pulled from the Typhoon, and as they started CPR on him, I was so worried, I think that was when I figured it out."

"So, I guess, thinking you and Dad had something of a fairy tale romance is a little farfetched?" asked Mina, joining her mother's gaze out over the water.

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I do hope you've all enjoyed reading so far, and I also hope you are all looking forward to the next chapter.

Till then, thank you for reading this far.


	8. Chapter 8

His War

A/N: Sorry that it's taking me so much time to get everything written as of late, but the new job does take up a rather large amount of time. And I started writing another part, but found that it wouldn't make much sense without this one first, so here we go.

Right, on with the show!

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Rin was laying on his back, on his bed, looking up at the poster above his bed, he'd managed to sneak it into the house, and get it put up there, as quietly as he could, it was of Mina Kross, leaning forward, pressing her cleavage together, dressed in very little, and a pouty look on her face, the words 'I love a man in uniform' were written at the bottom of the poster.

He sighed and rolled onto his side, to look at the piece of paper that now bore his name on it, he now had to live with what he was about to embark on, he just wished that he would be strong enough to make it.

A knock at the door, drew his attention, "Come on in, it's not like its locked or anything." He called out, turning to see who it was.

The door opened slightly, and mop of milk chocolate brown hair, with amber eyes popped in, and gave him a warm caring smile, before the rest of her shapely body fallowed, closing the door behind her, she spoke in a slightly different voice than normal, "Hey Rin, what's going on with you?"

It took him a moment or three, before he asked, "Mina? What?" he was dumbfounded, she looked a little different, and was sounding different; he pushed himself to be sitting up.

She smiled at him again, before sitting beside him, "I know, I cut most of my hair off, and dyed it brown... But you know that movie I was trying to get a part in?" she waited just long enough to see him nod, that he knew about it, "Well I got a part, all I had to do, was cut my hair and dye it, this colour..." she paused again, hugging herself slightly becoming a little nervous, "You hate it, don't you?"

"No, I don't hate it, it's just different... So what's the part you're going to play?" he asked her, giving her a reassuring smile.

Mina placed her arms behind and off to the sides as she leaned back, to look up, seeing the poster she blinked a couple of times, part of her was shocked to see it, she looked like such a different person, in that picture, "I play the role of the Arch-Angel's captain, my mom in other words.... Do you have a felt pen?"

Rin blinked a couple of times, before he went to his pack, and got out a black felt pen, as he handed it to her, he saw as she stood on his bed, got up on her tip-toes, and started to write on the poster,

_Almost as much as I love someone who it true to themselves_

_-Mina Kross_

_Signed in Rin Yamato's bedroom._

As she put the cap back on the pen, she smiled at Rin, "So was it this poster that had you thinking about joining the U.N.S.? Either way, it's going to be worth something now, but I mean that Rin, if you are going to join the service, make sure it's really something you want to do."

"Who told you that I was thinking about it?" he asked, as he tried to stand between her and the signed paper.

"Aunt Lucas, Uncle Kira, Mom, and Daddy... it was Daddy that said I should probably come and talk to you..." she walked up to him and hugged him tightly, "I trust your judgement Rin, and I believe in you."

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Weeks had gone by for Rin, it had been a whirlwind of learning and training, and he'd made it through basic, and was just starting flight school now. Like the rest of his class, that had been 150 people for basic training, and was now down to 36 for flight school, he stood on a tarmac, with 48 Typhoons lining the sides of the tarmac. Their instructors standing with them, as well as a woman in a brown jumpsuit, her hair was pink, and tied back, behind her head, a grease stain on her left cheek, and she spoke to the class, "So I see that you lot, made it into flight school, I'm Chief Warrant Officer Three, Sarah Jones. And my role here is to make sure, all of my planes are in top shape, they are my babies, so treat them like people, and they will do you well."

As the names were called, they were issued a plane number, and were told to go stand beside it, Rin found himself standing beside a craft with the number 066 on it, he was looking the gray craft, with the triangular wings, and large intakes, as he looked at it, he noted that it looked as if it had seen better days, he was pulled out of his thoughts, by the gentle coughing of a woman. Rin jumped a little, as he turned to face the same woman as before, with the grease stain on her cheek, she smiled at him, "Yamato right? I knew a Yamato once, a long time ago, he looked a lot like you, and I think his name was Kira..."

Rin stood at attention, before he responded with, "Yes Chief Warrant Officer, he is my father... may I ask how the Chief Warrant Officer knew my father?"

"Sure, I met him about 18 or 19 years ago, shortly after the U.N.S. Victoria came here, he was a pilot on the ship called the Arch-Angel, or was that the Eternal.." she started to trail off, looking as if she was trying to remember something.

Rin blinked a couple of times, and let it slip out, without thinking about proper procedures "You were on the Victoria? What did you do there?"

Sarah Jones smirked to herself, it was rare that she had some time to think back to her younger days, she ran her hand along the nose of the craft, "I used to the be the plane captain of Captain Alexander Kross... I named this bird 'Dena'; she's a little temperamental, like Captain Kross' bird was... Treat her right, and don't go without maintenance for four months, and she'll treat you right. That's my little speech to you, now I have to go, and tell some other officer cadet, the name of the plane that they have now, good luck." And with that, she walked down to the next craft in the line up.

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Rin was walking around the base, it was a Sunday, and he'd been give them off, a chance to catch up on class work, or anything else for that matter, but he found himself, in the maintenance section, standing in front of Sarah Jones' offices, he knocked once he was given permission to enter, he did, saluted her, and was greeted by her question, "So cadet Yamato, what do I owe the pleasure to this visit?"

"I was walking and thinking that maybe you might have some advice for me, I mean you said that you spent a lot of time, around pilots... I understand if you can't tell me anything of what might be coming my way..." Rin shifted a little, his gray uniform, still feeling strange to him.

Sarah Jones leaned back in her chair, and thought for a moment, "Well I can't tell you everything, but what I can tell you, is that there is a test coming up, it's not one you are going to be expected to beat, it's meant to see what you know, and what you don't know, and to see what kind of pilot you will likely be. Only advice I can give is, sometimes it's worth trading three missiles for an ECM pod. The other bit of advice is simple, when you get to a squadron, make friends with your plane captain, and treat your ground crew good, and when you move from squadron, to squadron, you won't have to get used to new people." She paused for a moment, "Well maybe I can tell you one more thing, that test coming up, is going to pit you against the computer profile of an ace pilot, don't worry this takes place in a simulator, but get ready to get your butt kicked. You're also showing some good instincts in coming and talking to me, and if you listen to my advice, you'll make a good pilot, and a good officer. Now, you're dismissed cadet, I've got work to do." She gave him a soft smile, as he headed out the door.

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"Cadet Park, you're going against Isamu Dyson... good luck." Came the voice of the instructor, from above the group of pilot cadets.

Rin watched as the young woman entered her flight simulator, and he gritted his teeth, Sarah Jones hadn't been kidding, when she had told him, what he was going to be in for, each one of them, was being tested against a former ace pilot, well to a degree, they were fighting a computer programmed off of the combat data, of one of the pilots. The whole point of the test had been to see what the cadets actually know, and don't know, he'd been told, 'We're not expecting any one of you, to actually shoot down, the other craft, we are scoring you, on how long you live for.' Those were the words that had been used.

Just over two minutes had passed, before Rin saw Park, coming back out, looking somewhat put off with herself, he was about to open his mouth, when he heard "Yamato, you're up. And you're going against...." she paused for a few moments, and then gave a bit of a grin, "Alexander Kross. Good luck."

Rin gulped, as he sat in the simulator, as the door closed behind him, the screens came to life, he was greeted with a weapons and equipment selection screen first, it took him a few moments to figure out what was what, but once he found the ECM pods, he remembered what the pink haired maintenance chief had told him, he quickly placed it into a hard-point, before loading up with missiles. He took a deep breath, before pressing the advance button, to bring him into what looked to be a cockpit, with everything coming to life; he saw it, a white, black and yellow Typhoon, with its tails facing him. As soon as Rin touched the controls, he saw a countdown, starting at 3.

He let out his breath.

2

He gripped the controls tighter

1

He edged the throttle forward

0

The White, black and yellow typhoon, pitched down and away, in a tight turn, almost faster than Rin could keep up with his eyes. Rin fallowed the turn, noticing the altimeter was dropping as the speed was increasing, he fought to get the craft in his sights, it would stay there, for a second or two, he'd almost get a missile lock tone, then it would pull away, in a random direction.

Rin pressed his teeth together, this diving chase was taking its toll on him, he knew nothing was real in here, but it felt real, just as the typhoon was in his sights, he let fly a volley of four missiles.

The four missiles were almost on the craft, when he watched as it changed shape, to its humanoid mode, so that it was upside down, facing him. Rin saw the blue white muzzle flash from the gun pod, four times, as each of his missiles, were blown apart. Rin was dumbfounded, when he thought he saw it wave an index finger at him, as if to say, 'no, no.' Before it changed shape again, into a jet, and got behind him, it took all of a heartbeat, before Rin heard "Missile!" being screamed in his ears.

Rin's right hand flew over the key pad, to select the ECM pod, bring it up; he breathed a sigh of relief as the missile warning went away. But it was the moment that he let himself have, that was going to prove to cost him, the other Typhoon was right flying , directly above him, and it changed to the hybrid mode, and kicked his craft square in the middle, forcing him even lower.

Rin got his craft under control again, and spotted his prey, as they broke through the cloud cover, they were flying through the capital city of Orb, ducking and weaving through buildings, and high-way over passes.

Something was nagging at the back of Rin's mind, as they were flying through the city, but he pushed it away, as he fallowed the craft into a tunnel, his cannons were blasting away, but nothing seemed to be hitting, he was starting to feel a little anger, digging at him.

But it was when the target fired off some missiles ahead, and they exploded into a cloud of white smoke, Rin watched as it speed up, and dispread into the smoke, at the same time, it vanished from his sensors, still not listening to the little voice in his head, he flew into the cloud of smoke, and the next thing he saw, was a wing, with a glowing edge to it.

The screens went blank, but there was a wing of a Typhoon sitting in his simulator, half way through him as well. Rin took his helmet off, just as the wing started to fade away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rin was sitting at his desk, looking over his class materials, when he heard a knock at his door, "Enter." He called out, not really paying attention.

After the door closed, he heard a voice that he knew, "You did well Rin, and you actually gave me a run for my money, for a few moments, before I exploited your flaw."

Rin spun in his chair to see Captain Alexander Kross, leaning against his door, "What? What do you mean I gave you a run for your money? I thought I was fighting some program..."

Alexander shook his head, "Call it, one of the privileges of being a Naval Captain, but I was able to climb into the simulator, to see what you could do. But you had a couple of fatal flaws in what you did. The first was you sat still for a little too long, but the big one, was becoming too fixated on your target, and not where you were." Alexander pushed himself off the door, before he continued, "Before you ask, I beat you, because you didn't watch me lead you into a tunnel, and lay a trap. But like I said, you did really well, so common, I'm hungry, and we can talk about how you're going to keep up, this level of performance for the rest of your time here, as a Cadet."

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Well that's chapter 8a, 8b will come as soon as I have time to actually write it...

I didn't expect this much extra work, with becoming a member of Law enforcement, but well I do like the new job...

Anyways, thank you for reading this far.


	9. Chapter 9

Her War

A/N: Sorry that it's taking me so much time to get everything written as of late, but the new job does take up a rather large amount of time.

Right, on with the show!

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Rin was laying on his back, in the sun, he looked up to see Mina looking down at him, he enjoyed time like this, with his head in her lap, he smiled as she gently touched his cheek, and he watched in surprise as she slapped him, after drawing her hand back.

"Ensign Yamato wake up!" she yelled at him, as she got ready to slap him again.

Rin sat bolt upright, blinked a couple of time, looking at his surroundings, before he sighed heavily, he was in a sweltering jungle, he looked at his one companion on this survival exercise, she wasn't un-pleasant to look at, but wasn't his Mina, she was of Asian decent, with dark hair, that had been cut short, as well as dark eyes, her hand was pulled back, as if to slap him again.

She gave him a soft smile, before she spoke again, "Well now that you are awake, we need to get moving, we've only got two days left, and 15km to go... Sorry for slapping you, but who's Mina?"

Rin blushed a little, as he starting packing away his gear, "She's someone that's important to me, but don't ask me what she is to me, 'cause I don't know... we've never nailed it down. I hope that makes enough sense Karin."

Karin Park, looked Rin over, he was a little younger then she herself, out of everyone that she could have been stuck with, for this little stint in the jungle, it could've been worse. She walked up behind him, and dragged the tips of her fingers across his back, "Rin, we've got some time, why not..." she leaned over to his ear and whispered something to him, causing Rin to stop, blush, and look at her, "What happens in the jungle, stays in the jungle." She finished by winking at him.

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"Eight months, twenty-three days, nineteen hours, forty-four minuets, and oops, forty-five minutes..." she was counting the clock, as it ticked away, she missed Rin, it had been almost nine months since he joined the U.N.S. and almost two months since she finished shooting that movie, she sighed heavily.

"Mina, can you do me a favour?" asked a woman with milk chocolate brown hair, as she stuck her head in through the open door to Mina's room.

"Sure mom, what do you need?" asked Mina turning around, to see her mother holding an infant.

"Could you watch your little brother for a bit, well I take a shower?" she asked, looking a little pleading.

Mina nodded, and took the infant into her arms, cradling the baby, and noting to herself how much he looked like her father, the baby opened his eyes briefly to see his elder sister, before he closed his green orbs again, to return to his slumber.

After Murrue had taken to the shower, Mina looked at her little brother, and spoke to him, "barley a month old, and you have no idea what or who your Daddy is, but that can't be helped, he had to return to the front lines, now that his ship is all ready..." she playfully tapped the baby's nose, "But at least you are still with family. But we need to find you something to wear for tonight, since it's a big important night for me."

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They were all in nice clothing, sitting in a big limousine, on their way to a movie premier, her hair was still the milk chocolate brown, she had been told to keep it that way, till after the movie had been released, across from her, sat her mother, whom was holding her little brother, beside her was her aunt and manager, her long pink hair, done in such a way, that it looked so glamorous, and her uncle was beside her mother.

"Mom, I know I've said it a dozen times already, but I really do hope that you like the movie, after I showed up on set, with the book you gave me, and they put two and two together, they pushed for a re-write of the movie, to give me a bigger part, and make you and Daddy secondary, primary characters... I also made a push to try and keep things that were in the book in the movie, as well as some of the more..." she twisted some hair around her right index finger, trying to come up with a gracious way of saying something, "privet things, just that."

Her mother smiled, and nodded, before patting her shoulder, "Don't worry Mina, I know you'll have done a good job, you always work so hard."

As the car came to a stop, they could hear the theme song to the movie playing, and Mina's voice singing it loudly. She had admitted that she found an old recording that her father had had, of someone named Ranka Lee singing a song called 'Aimo', and that it had sounded about right for the movie.

Once the door to the back had been opened, Mina's uncle was the first to exit the car, followed by his wife, once she was in view, the cameras started to snap pictures, as Mina exited the car, she waved to her fans, just in time, to have a microphone, placed in front of her, with the question being asked, "Aside from Kira and Lacus Yamato, whom else did you bring with you? You're co-star perhaps?"

Mina shook her head, and placed her hand out for her mother, whom was in a nice long evening gown, "I brought my mom, Lieutenant Commander Murrue Ramius-Kross, Whom I portray in the movie, as well as my new baby brother."

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As the movie got started, the screen opened with what looked to be the Arch-Angel's bridge, Murrue found herself impressed with the attention to detail that they had gone into for the ship, everything looked almost perfect, but it was the door to the bridge opened, and she saw herself, no not her, it was Mina, she wore the Earth Federation uniform perfectly, she looked just like she remembered herself looking all those years ago.

But it was the scene outside of Orb that had Murrue close her eyes, and grip the side of her chair; they had actually gotten the emotion across, when Alexander was hit by friendly fire, she looked over at her daughter sitting beside her, to see Mina give her a soft smile, and then the dialog between Mina and the man playing Alexander started, as she was sitting beside him in the infirmary "Jerk, how could you do something so noble and stupid? They should've called you 'Paladin' with you pulling stunts like that."

Murrue smiled as she felt Mina give her hand a quick squeeze, she found herself really enjoying the movie, and how well Mina did, though the other acts were leaving something to be desired.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the movie had finished, and they were exiting the theatre, when they were met outside by more reporters, and over Mina they swarmed, "Tell us Miss Kross, what did, this movie mean to you?"

It was that question, and only that question that Mina heard, she smiled, and again squeezed her mom's hand, "This movie actually means a lot to me, not only is it my first movie, but more than that, it helped me understand my parents, helped me understand how they met, and how they fell in love. A lot of the movie wasn't exact between the characters, but the stuff between Murrue Ramius and Alexander Kross, really did happen. I wish my Daddy could've been here, but he's away with his ship the Seraphim, fighting for us, all of us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was the next morning for her, she woke up, slowly, as if she wasn't really sure, if she was awake, the after party for the movie had been so much fun, she slipped her slender legs out of bed, and her feet touched the soft fuzzy carpeting in her room, she reached for her white fuzzy house coat, and did it up, as she reached for the door.

Down stairs, once she had reached it, she found her mother feeding her baby brother, without looking up, her mother said, "You might want to read the news paper, I left it open, to the article."

She sat at the table, and begun to read;

_Last night's showing of 'Angel Feathers', was to my surprise both a good and bad experience, though the cast did feature a lot of new faces, most of them, didn't seem to make the story that engaging, even though it was about a very recent if little understood part of the Bloody Valentine war._

_The special effects were well done, the writing was alright, but most of the characters seemed too flat..._

Mina's heart began to sink, as she started to read on, she had worked so hard, to try and get things changed to make the movie seem so much better.

_That was, till we came to the scene between Murrue Ramius, played by her daughter Mina Kross, and Alexander Kross, played by Simon Roanoke, where Alexander Kross had been hit by friendly fire, and had crashed landed in the Arch-Angel, and was now in laying in the medical bay, Miss Kross' tears, and lines made that part of the movie feel so real, so true, that it made me think about her acting throughout the entire movie, though she had gotten off to a rocky start, by the end of the movie, I'd say that she was the one that made it worth seeing, for she carried the entire movie, and I for one, am looking forward to seeing her in a starring role, in her next performance._

_-A. Ronal._

Mina looked up to her mom, to see her with a smile on her face, and give her an approving nod.

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I know, shorter than the rest, I just haven't had time to actually write anything lately, I do hope to try and get more out, but with things coming up, I don't know when that will be.

But thank you for reading this far.


	10. Chapter 10

Collision course

A/N: Wow, sorry to all my readers, if you are still reading that it's taken me so long to get back to this, but my life has been a total gong show for the last eight months, that if I wrote it all down, it could probably be a hit comedy on a late night network. Everything from moving into a new place, to braking up with my girl, to her taking almost everything, including the ice-cube trays.... But that's another story all together.

Anyways, on with the show!

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She was bouncing in her seat, this was going to be her first visit to the Vanguard fleet, and she was part of multi talented group of stars that were going to help raise sprits of those in the fleet. As she looked out the port side window of the shuttle she could see the running lights of the larger ships, but one of the ships was holding her attention.

"Would you please stop fidgeting around? You're acting like this is your first big show Mina!" said the voice of the person sitting beside her.

Mina Kross turned to look at him, it was her co-star from _Angel Feathers_, the boy that had played the role of her father, she opened her mouth to speak, when she heard the shuttle pilot announce that there were on final approach to the _Seraphim_, as she got that news she became even more bouncy.

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As she stood at the stairs leading down from the shuttle, she was looking at all of the people standing in groups according to uniform colour, but she was looking for one person first and foremost, seeing him, her face lit up, and she went running down the stairs, and over to him.

At five feet from him, he tossed herself at him, slamming into his chest, and wrapping her arms around him, as she said gleefully "Hi Daddy!"

She felt his arms warp around her, and his soft voice spoke "Hi sweet-heart. Would you like your own room on ship, or..." before he could finish she said, "I want to stay with you, it's been over a year since I got to see you Daddy, and I brought pictures of Mom and James, and some letters too." She squeezed him tighter, not wanting to let go of her father.

Standing in amongst the pilots on board the _Seraphim, _stood Ensign Rin Yamato, his black and white uniform finally looking as if it fit him, and he couldn't help but think this was going to be trouble.

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Her set was just finishing, it was her last song of the night, and it was the one she was looking forward to the most, as it would let her walk around the people that were here to see her, and sit in the lap of one lucky guy, just as she finished. She had looked over the audience and spotted the boy, that she was going to do that too, his short brown hair, and soft violate eyes, but she could day dream about those later. She pulled off the long evening gown she had warn in her last song, and was now in something that most would consider lingerie, and she couldn't help but smile, it'd taken almost two years now, but she was comfortable with herself, and how she looked, and nothing would take that from her now.

As the music kicked up, she jumped out on stage again, and started;

_Baby, what do you want to do? I'm driving._

_My hands are on the handle bars and I'm standing by._

_(Do you) want my heart & want my love?_

_NO!? Forget that, let's swing and KISS!_

She started to blow kisses out to every man in the audience, before waving her right index finger back and forth;

_I say "NO" to a half-baked style._

_A LOVE that makes me soar is for me._

_Beautiful! Excuse me!_

_If you wish for them, lalala, possibilities._

_Point, I don't care. Dollars, how much fake?_

_Point, one in two,_

_But if there's love, then do it!_

She jumped off the stage at this point, and started to walk around the audience making her way to the second row;

_What 'bout my star?_

_Let me know what you want, I would give you!_

_How fantastic to be with you. My love!_

_Even if this love is a lie, GO!_

_You only get one shot, so let's make it Exciting!_

_Wonderful! Charming you!_

_I want to GET you, lalala._

_We'll sing around the world._

_3. Hey, I count down._

_2. Are you ready?_

_1. I can't wait anymore._

_0. Let my love be heard!_

She had found her target, and gently touched his arm, and smiled at him, as she moved to be facing him;

_What 'bout my star?_

_What 'bout my star?_

_What 'bout my star?_

_What 'bout my star?_

_What 'bout my star?_

_My romantic date with you!!_

_Give me your miracle kiss._

_Our emotional date_

At this point she found herself straddling the lap of the boy she had set her sights on, well facing him;

_Let me know what you want, I would give you!_

_How fantastic to be with you. My love!_

And with that she kissed him.

With her microphone now off, she broke the kiss, then leaned in closer to him, to whisper in his ear, "I missed you." Before she leaned back, and ran her gloved left index finger along his lower jaw.

She stood and walked back to the stage, but before she ducked back behind the curtain she blew more kisses to the audience. And the boy that she had kissed sank into his seat, well the girl that was beside him, just glared at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On the bridge of the _Seraphim, _Alexander found himself just looking at the screen, his coffee and mug all over the floor, the women on the bridge with him, were just as speechless, it was the blond one at the CIC that spoke first, "Wow, Captain, your daughter sure is grown up, isn't she?"

It took Alexander a few moments to recover, before he said, "More then I'd like to admit at this point... Still it was a good show; she has come a long way."

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"Lisa, I'm sorry! What more do you want me to say? She probably picked me, because we've been friends for a long time!" said Rin as he walked with his girl-friend Ensign Lisa Cooper.

Lisa wore a white bridge officer's uniform, her shoulder length blond hair, and deep blue eyes gave her a look that a lot of men found attractive, though she had a slightly slender build, she was still almost five foot eight. Yet right now she was fuming at her boy-friend, hands on her hips, "So that made it okay, for her to stick her tongue down your throat? I don't care if she's famous, or the Captain's daughter, or a friend of yours! Acting like that, she's nothing more than a cheap slut! Did you even see what she was wearing or were you too busy looking at her 'assets'?"

"Lisa, Mina is just a friend, nothing more. You are the woman for me, you make me happy..." he kissed her as he said that.

"That's all I am? Just a friend?" came a voice that pulled Rin out of the kiss, to see a girl with blondish red hair, down around her shoulders, her amber eyes filling with tears, she looked to the girl that Rin was pressing against, and yelled at her, "You can have him!" before she took off running.

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It was getting late, by the time Alexander had gotten back to his cabin, as the door slid open, he heard the tell tale sound of sobbing, and he sighed to himself as he let the door close, before heading back to the bridge. Once on the bridge he located one of his younger crew-women, and pulled her aside, "Megan, this is kind of embarrassing and a bit personal, but may I ask you a question?"

The red-headed radar operator blinked at her Captain, he'd made it a point to not ask about the personal lives of those under him, she tiled her head to the side, before she said, "Depending on the question, I don't mind Sir."

Alexander sighed again, before he said, "I've got a crying 18 year old daughter, in my cabin right now, and I don't know what to do, I'd ask my wife, but by the time my question would get there, my daughter would already be on her way home..."

Megan couldn't help but smirk and try to suppress her amusement, though failing at it, "When in doubt, chocolate, and if that fails, then ice-cream. And if it's boy trouble, go right for the ice-cream, triple chocolate.... I know the galley has some, you can't have this many women on board, and not have any."

"Thanks Megan, I really appreciate the help, and feel free to sleep in tomorrow, I won't let it come up as you being late." Said Alexander as he started to go down to the galley.

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Again he found himself in front of his cabin door, though this time with a pint of triple chocolate ice-cream, and two spoons, the chef had recommended two spoons for this, said something about, 'father-daughter bonding experience'. As the door opened, he heard her soft sobbing.

He sat beside her, on the edge of the bed, and put the ice-cream on the night stand, along with the spoons, before he gently touched her blondish red hair. As he did that, she sat up, her eyes puffy and red, she sniffed, well she shoulders shuttered. He placed an arm around her, well taking the ice-cream and two spoons in the other, and showing them to her.

She smiled at her dad, and leaned against him well taking one of the spoons, before she spoke, "Had to go get help huh?"

"Yea, I did. I've never had to deal with trouble like this... I was usually the cause of it." He said to her, as he took the cap off the ice-cream, "I guess you ran into Rin and Lisa."

Mina licked the spoon in her mouth, as she looked at her dad, and as her mind worked out something to say, that wouldn't make her sound like a spoiled brat, "So, was I the only one, who didn't know? Or was it done, just to make me look like a cheap slut, when I did that number?"

Alexander leaned back against the pillows, before he spoke, well twisting the spoon in the ice-cream, "It wasn't my place to tell you, that Rin started dating her, about eight months ago... Did you and Rin ever talk about what you were or are to one another?"

She wanted to just yell at her dad for that, but like always, he didn't beat around the bush, he got right to the subject, she both loved that and hated that about him. She leaned back, and put her head on his shoulder, "No, we never did... I just thought we were a couple after a month of use making out, and going out place together... But apparently 'I was just a friend'.... I guess I can't balm him for finding her, she's kind of pretty, it just...."

"Sucks, I know it does. When I first came to this reality, I had been dumped by the woman I was going to marry, not even six months before I got here, and in the video-mail she sent me, she had her new guy walk in, and kiss her. I know, little comfort right?" said Alexander as he rubbed Mina's right shoulder.

"The worst part Daddy, is I put my privet life on hold for Rin, I haven't kissed a boy, that wasn't part of my job, since the last time I kissed Rin, before he went away to training..." she took another spoon-full.

"Well sweet-heart, you've got three options, one; you can just give up and walk away from him, two; you can be mean and nasty to Rin and Lisa, or three; you can fight for him. Now I like Rin, he's a good kid, and a good pilot... but off of what I saw tonight with you on stage, I think you is out of his league. And I think he knows it too, and that's probably why he settled for Ensign Cooper." Said Alex, as he took his first spoon full.

Mina looked at her dad, she had never really talked with him before, she smiled and laughed a little, "You really are trying to make me feel better, and I can see why guys almost never try. But thanks Daddy, you are helping... have you had a chance to see the mail I brought with me yet?"

Alex shook his head for a no, before he got up, and put the disk in the player, then got back onto the bed, with Mina.

The screen was black for a few moments, before something was starting to move, and they could see a baby's face taking up the entire screen, giving a toothless smile, as Murrue's voice could be heard, "Now come away from there you, the camera isn't baby proof!"

Murrue pulled her son into her lap, and looked at the camera, before she continued;

"Hi Alex, and I'm going to bet Mina's with you too. I miss you both, but I think I miss you more Alex..." she winked, before she went on, "Don't worry Mina, I miss your dad in a different way, then I do you. As you can see, James is getting bigger, and starting to crawl everywhere now! I hope everything is going well for you, and I hope you're staying out of trouble, Alex. I wish you were home with us, but I know you too well, that you'd be restless planet side. You could never get the hang of living on them, I remember when we first moved in together, you used to complain that it was two quite all the time, no hum of the engines, or that the air didn't smell right..."

She gave a sweet smile, "I bet you didn't know that about your Dad did you Mina? That till we came to Orb that first time, his feet had never touched a planet before... So I really hope that the two of you take this chance to get to know each other, I know we've not been a perfect family, and that being apart for so long can't have been good but take this time, to build bridges between you two. I look forward to you coming home, and seeing you both again. I love you Alex, please stay safe."

With that the she leaned forward and clicked the off button, and the screen went blank for a little while. Alex, was about to turn off the player, before it came back to life, with Murrue dressed in very little, before she could open her mouth he hit the off button, and looked back to Mina, her mouth was just hanging open, and she was pointing at the screen.

"I'll watch that part later, in privet... as it's meant for my eyes and ears only." He said, with a slight red huge coming to his cheeks.

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I do hope you all have enjoyed this part, and I'm sorry that it took so long for me to get it written, as I said, my life had just gone completely insane for the last eight months.

I also hope to have this one wrapped up, in a few more parts, and I'm also planning on giving part 8 of _Feathers and Bones_ a re-write, to give it a better, and more fitting ending.

So again, thank you for reading this far.


End file.
